so today i went to get my iPod fixed after work. i think it's so bizarre how you have to queue up like you're at a clinic and explain your iPod's problem as though it's your child ('it, just kind of, died. it makes a strange whirring sound sometimes.'). i can't imagine having a child now. and at some point it went something like this:

guy: is this your iPod? or is it someone else's?
me: er, yes. why? (did he think i stole it?)
guy: oh. it's just that the songs don't seem to -looks at me again- suit you. you don't look like ...
me: sorry, what?
guy keeps quiet.

i think at that moment he felt like he was being inappropriate by saying such things or something but honestly i'd have liked him to continue because i wanted to ask, 'then what songs do i look like i listen to?' i wonder if all the apple staff spend their time scrolling through other peoples' iPod playlists. it must be quite interesting. i felt it was intrusive at first and was rather annoyed but then i realized that if i was working there i'd be doing the exact same thing. it's like you'll get to know something about that person that many others might not know (most of the people i meet aren't really aware of my taste in music) - meeting a silent, studious boy who listens to heavy metal or a middle-aged man who listens to backstreet boys. or something. i often think of it that way, that strangers sometimes find out these 'secrets' and carry it with them on to the bus, or on to the mrt and then back home. but then they forget, of course.

i got followed by some person doing a survey today. it never fails to amaze me how persistent they can be. i continued walking saying i was in a hurry (i really was. i wanted to have CURRY and RICE for dinner before i left for cake) and he walked with me and asked questions like, 'are you going to study in NTU or NUS? what course are you taking?' etc etc. finally i answered him because he walked with me to the point where WISMA STARTED so i said, 'i'm going to America' (all of this transpired in Chinese, of course). he asked 'where?'. i said 'chicago'. he pressed on, 'what course?'. i said 'drama, maybe'. and then he just kind of went, 'oh. ok, wish you all the best yah!' and left me alone.

i really kind of like it when that happens, and i don't know why. i remember the last time some guy was trying to offer me and jenny a job after we did a survey about jobs and i just said, 'i don't care what i do or how much i earn. i just want to be happy.' and jenny agreed. and then he didn't know what to say and kept insisting that we should try the job he was offering because it might possibly make us happy because we could earn a lot of money (which was basically a job like his) and i kept repeating, 'wo zi yao kai xin jiu ke yi. mei you qian ye ke yi.' in my broken chinese. after awhile he left us alone.

i think the next time i get harassed by these survey people i'm going to tell them i'm going to study 'human sexuality' or something. now i just have to think of how to say that in chinese.

you know you really need to go shopping when your father tells you, 'um, i think you need to get some new clothes'.

+ posted by M @ 11:10 PM